Avatar: Second Generation Book 2: Earth
by zukofan2005
Summary: Team Avatar Jr. have found the new Avatar Sanosuke and now have to teach him the other three elements. Meanwhile, the leader of the Chikara Army is hunting down the kids to find and kill the Avatar to gain victory in the new war. Follows Book 1: Water
1. Chapter 1: The Dreams

Here's chapter 1 of book 2! :D

disclaimer: I don't own ATLA but I do own the OCs

* * *

_He flew on a cloud high in the air over the ocean. He's never felt more blissful in his life than he did at that moment. He felt the wind in his face as he soared in the clear blue sky. He felt a presence nearby and looked around to see a beautiful woman young flying next to him on her own cloud. She looked at him and gave him a radiant smile. He couldn't help but smile back. The sky suddenly darkened and Sanosuke could hear yelling below so he looked down and saw Chikara Army ships in the ocean, smoke billowed from them. Several soldiers ran around on the ships, some of them yelled commands. _

__

"Be careful, Miss!" warned Sanosuke. He didn't get a reply and looked around. "Miss?"

But she was gone. He looked down again and saw giant balls on trebuchets getting torched. The fire balls were fired and soared into the sky. Sanosuke raised his hands to defend himself with his bending only the fire balls didn't fly anywhere near him. They just soared past him. He looked behind him to see where the fire balls would land and saw the Northern Water Tribe. The fire balls either crashed into the wall or landed into the city.

He heard a woman yell something below and he looked down to see a woman wearing dark armor at the prow of the ship. She was pointing at the Avatar and yelling orders to the soldiers. She smiled maliciously at him as the fireballs flew at him. Sanosuke dodged the attack. He raised his arms to bend the water in the ocean to attack only the water did nothing. He tried again. Nothing. He looked down at the ships again only to see that the cloud he was on suddenly dissapeared and he found himself falling into the darkeness below.

"Sanosuke. Sanosuke!"

Sanosuke quickly sat up, drenched in sweat and panting. Jin sat next to him with her hand on his shoulder. He looked around to see the others already awake and cleaning up camp.

"Are you okay?" she asked him. She looked very concerned.

"I'm fine." lied Sanosuke.

"Are you?"

He looked at Jin for a moment before getting out of his sleeping bag to help the others clean only to be forced back down by the princess. She picked up a bowl that was sitting next to her and gently placed it in his hands.

"Eat first." she ordered.

Sanosuke sighed in defeat and ate his food.

"So, sleeping beauty's finally awake, huh?" asked Toshiro, smirking as he tossed his bag into Appa's saddle.

"Leave him alone, Toshiro." said Jin, frowning at the Water Tribe boy. "Sanosuke's had a rough night."

"I'm fine." Sanosuke said firmly. He gave the bowl back to Jin and began taking care of his things.

"Oh please." said Rikiya with a smirk. He stomped his foot and his earth tent sank into the ground. "I don't need earthbending to know that you're lying."

"Leave him alone, guys." said Kya. "If he doesn't want to talk about it then we should respect that."

"There's nothing to talk about." said Sanosuke, becoming more irritated.

Jin sensed it and said to the group, "Let's just drop it. Drop it." she added firmly to Toshiro when he opened his mouth. He shrugged and began tossing the supplies into the saddle.

Sanosuke nodded in thanks to Jin and continued to take care of his things. He started thinking about his dream.

_Who were those women in his dream?_ he wondered. He'd never seen them before, so why were they in his dream?

"Alright, Team Avatar! Appa's Air Service will be taking off soon!"

Toshiro's voice interrupted Sanosuke's thoughts and finished his packing. Everyone climbed on Appa and Haruki grabbed the reins.

"Yip yip!" said the airbender and Appa took off.

Sanosuke was finally starting to get used to the whole flying thing. He watched the scenery pass by below while they flew.

"Are you sure you're okay?"

Sanosuke looked up at Xiu who had detatched herself from the group like she always did. Sanosuke was used to this by now. The youngest one of the group always kept to herself. The only people she would actually be with were him, Haruki, and Jin.

"I'm fine." the Avatar said to the girl.

Xiu looked worriedly at Sanosuke before leaving him alone.

_A battle raged on around Sanosuke. He watched in horror as soldiers in dark armor and helmets with red visors fought people in blue parkas. He didn't recognise this village and guessed that he was in the Southern Water Tribe village. Something red rushed past him and he looked around to see a man with a large burn scar on the side of his face fight a soldier with firebending and dual dao swords. Sanosuke was impressed at how the man was able to take the soldier down easily. Three soldiers flew past him and landed in the snow. He looked around and saw a man with arrow tattoos airbending at the soldiers. Sanosuke saw that the man looked almost exactly like Haruki except he had stormy grey eyes, tattos, and was bald. A soldier firebended at the man and the man waterbended the snow upward to block the attack. This made Sanosuke's jaw drop.  
_

_"He must've been the Avatar before me." Sanosuke muttered to himself. He saw a man with markings on his face sneak around behind the airbender. Sanosuke saw the man ready an arrow in his bow and point it at the unsuspecting airbender's heart.  
_

_"LOOK OUT!" shouted Sanosuke. He tried to waterbend at the man with the bow and arrow but nothing happened. No one even heard the teenage shout. Sanosuke watched in horror as the archer let loose the arrow which pierced the airbender's heart. Blood dripped from the airbender's mouth and he fell face forward to the ground, dead.  
_

_"AANG!"  
_

_"NO!"  
_

_Sanosuke looked up at the Water Tribe warrior that looked like Toshiro and the scarred firebender as they ran over to the airbender named Aang and break off the arrow and turn the body over. The firebender screamed in rage and attacked the soldiers who were retreating. The Water Tribe warrior just held the body with tears streaming down his face.  
_

_Everything went dark and Sanosuke found himself in a room. He recognized it as his house only different. He heard a baby cry and looked around. He saw two men and a woman surround a woman laying on a bed. He recognized the men to be his father and Khalil, only younger. The woman standing was Yugoda, one of the waterbending healers. She was holding a crying baby with dark brown hair. Sanosuke looked at the woman in the bed and saw that she was the woman in his last dream. She was the one flying next to him. She was covered in sweat and was looking very exhausted.  
_

_"It's a boy." announced Yugoda. She smiled kindly at the woman who held out her arms for the baby. Lifting her arms seemed to take up a lot of her strength. Yugoda gave the baby to the woman. She cradled her son, a smile on her face. Her arms shook as she held the baby. Sanosuke's father helped her hold the baby, a worried smile formed on his face. The woman looked at Sanosuke's father, tears forming in her eyes.  
_

_"He's beautiful." she said breathlessly.  
_

_"Are you okay, Melia?" asked Sanosuke's father.  
_

_"Hahn. I don't think I have much time." said Melia. She took a shuddering breath.  
_

_"Do something!" Sanosuke's father ordered Yugoda. The elderly woman gathered water and was about to begin her healing treatment when the woman called Melia held up a shaking hand.  
_

_"I don't think it will do any good." gasped Melia.  
_

_Yugoda ignored her and placed the water over Melia. The water glowed and the woman gasped then laid still.  
_

_"Melia?"  
_

_Sanosuke's father placed a hand on Melia's shoulder and shook it slightly. Melia's hand slowly reached out for Sanosuke's father's face. He took her hand and helped. Melia whispered something to Sanosuke's father. Sanosuke had to get closer to hear her.  
_

_"Name him Sanosuke after my father." she whispered. She took another shuddering breath and was still.  
_

_"Melia?"  
_

_No answer.  
_

_"Melia?"  
_

_No answer.  
_

_Hahn sighed sadly and brought his hand to his face. The baby cried and Khalil picked him up to try and silence him._

Darkness surrounded Sanosuke again and he sat up. It was very early in the morning. He reached a hand to his forehead and felt it covered in sweat. He heard a rustling sound next to him and saw Jin sitting up.

"Are you okay?" she asked him quietly.

"It was just a dream." he whispered back. "Go back to sleep." He got out of his sleeping bag.

"Where are you going?"

"I'm going for a walk." He silently walked away from the camp. Momo woke up and followed him.

"Be careful." she whispered.

Sanosuke walked to the nearby stream and got to his knees. He cupped the water in his hands and brought it to his face. Momo watched him, tilting his head slightly. Sanosuke looked down at his reflection.

What he saw made him rub his eyes and look back again; instead of his reflection looking back at him he saw the airbender from his dream looking up at him. When he looked again, he just saw his regular reflection.

He looked up at the moon which began to dissapear, meaning that the sun was rising soon.

"What do these dreams mean?"

* * *

I know that Hahn was OOC in this chapter, but I'll try to do a better job on that in the future

and I know that Hahn pretty much died, but in my fanfic I made him live


	2. Chapter 2: The Talk With Haruki

disclaimer: I don't own ATLA but I do own the OCs

* * *

Haruki sat by the river with his legs crossed, fists together, and eyes closed. He took deep breaths while he meditated. The silence was suddenly broken by Sanosuke's voice.

"Hey Haruki!"

The airbender's concentration was broken and he reluctantly opened his eyes to look up at the Avatar.

"I want to talk to you about something." said Sanosuke

"Sure, why not?" said Haruki in an irritable tone with a look to match, "It's not like I'm in the middle of something."

Sanosuke sat down in front of Haruki.

"I've been having some weird dreams lately and I'm having trouble figuring out what they mean."

"Dreams don't mean anything." said Haruki, "They're dreams. My Uncle Sokka has dreams where food eats people and the last known seal jerky attack was, well, never."

"But I always see a woman with dark armor in my dreams. I don't even know who she is and I've never met her before."

"Well dreams aren't real." Haruki closed his eyes again as if to close the subject and go back to meditating. "She's probably just a figment of your imagination."

"I don't know."

Haruki opened an eye and gave Sanosuke another irritated look.

"In my last one, it all seemed so real."

"They always seem real." Haruki closed his eye again.

"I think I saw my past life in it for the first time."

Haruki's eyes shot open and he looked at Sanosuke with his full attention.

"What did he look like?" asked the airbender

Sanosuke closed his eyes and tried to remember.

"He was bald," he said slowly, "He had arrows all over his body. Oh! And he..." He opened his eyes and looked at Haruki when he remembered something about the last Avatar, "He looked like you, except his eyes weren't blue."

Haruki closed his eyes and looked down. Sanosuke understood.

"He was your dad, wasn't he?" he asked.

"What was happening to him?" Haruki asked softly.

"He was somewhere covered in snow, I thing it was the South Pole, and he was fighting off these firebenders with black armor and these helmets that had red visors."

"The Southern Raiders." said Haruki, nodding, "Continue."

"He was fighting those soldiers off with a Water Tribe warrior with a ponytail. He looked a lot like Toshiro, come to think about it."

"Uncle Sokka."

"And there was a firebender there with swords and this big scar on one side of his face."

"Fire Lord Zuko."

"The last Avatar bravely fought the soldiers off with airbending, waterbending, and firebending. He was doing great until an archer shot an arrow at his heart. The next thing I remember is that I was in my house and I was born." He felt a pang when he remembered what else happened. "And my mother dying after she gave birth to me."

Sanosuke looked down and closed his eyes. He did his best to keep a tear from falling. He heard Haruki stand up and he opened his eyes and did the same.

"I don't know what to tell you about the woman in your dreams or why you dreamt about the last Avatar's fate. The only advice I can give you is to relax and clear your mind when you go to sleep. Meditating couldn't hurt either."

The airbender looked at the sun in the sky.

"It's nearly midday. You better get back to camp. Rikiya will want to teach you earthbending soon."


	3. Chapter 3: The Kidnapping

disclaimer: I don't own ATLA but I do own the OCs

* * *

Sanosuke silently followed Haruki back to camp where Rikiya waited with his arms crossed across his chest.

"About time you showed up!" exclaimed Rikiya when he saw the Avatar. "So, you ready to learn some earthbending?"

Sanosuke bowed slightly to Rikiya

"Of course sifu Rikiya." said Sanosuke respectfully

"Huh." Rikiya held his chin and looked up thoughtfully, "Sifu Rikiya. I like the sound of that."

Sanosuke couldn't help but smile and roll his eyes.

"So what move are you going to teach me first?" he asked

"We're just going to star with 'move a rock'."

Sanosuke shrugged. "Whatever."

He didn't notice the glare Haruki was giving him.

Sanosuke and Rikiya stood in front of a boulder near a canyon. Aura, Kya, Xiu, Jin, Momo, and Toshiro watched from a rock outcropping nearby. Haruki went hunting for meat for dinner.

"The key to earthbending is your stance."

Rikiya lowered himself and widened the distance between his feet as a demonstration. Sanosuke copied him.

"You've got to be steady and strong." He shoved Sanosuke, causing him to stumble backwards. "Rock is a stubborn element. If you're going to move it, you've got to be like a rock yourself."

Sanosuke took a deep breath as he rubbed his side where Rikiya shoved him.

"Like a rock." he echoed. "Got it."

"Good. Now the actual motion of this one is pretty simple."

Rikiya lunged forward and punched, causing the boulder to shoot off into the distance and slamming into the side of the canyon.

He turned to Sanosuke. "Okay, you ready to give it a try?"

Sanosuke took up a similar stance, looking determined.

"I'm ready." he told the earthbender. His eyes narrowed and he punched forward, the rock shifted slightly.

"Try again." instructed Rikiya.

Sanosuke took his stance again and punched the rock harder, making it move almost as far as Rikiya did. The earthbender nodded in approval.

The rest of the day, Rikiya pushed Sanosuke hard with his earthdending. During the bitter work, the Avatar learned that earthbending wasn't as easy as waterbending.

At sundown, Rikiya brought Sanosuke to the middle of the canyon. Aura, Xiu, Kya, and Toshiro stood a small distance away, watching.

"This time we're going to try something a little different." Rikiya informed Sanosuke, "Instead of moving a rock, you're going to stop a rock. Get in your horse stance!"

Sanosuke widened his stance. Rikiya stood in front of him with a trail leading up an angled cliff behind him. "I'm going to roll that boulder down at you." He pointed up the hill at a large boulder that sat at the top of the trail.

"If you have the attitude of an earthbender, you'll stay in your stance and stop the rock."

Sanosuke's felt his jaw drop. The girls looked on with concern. "Like this." Rikiya lunged toward the boulder with his arms outstretched to illustrate what he meant. Xiu walked up to the earthbending teacher and student.

"Sorry Rikiya, but are you sure this is really the best way to teach Sanosuke earthbending?" asked Xiu quietly.

"I'm glad you said something." said Rikiya, smiling at Xiu. "Actually, there is a better way." He reached down, grabbed her belt, and jerked it off.

"Hey!" protested the youngest member of the group but the earthbender ignored her. He blindfolded Sanosuke with the belt.

"This way he'll really have to sense the vibrations of the boulder to stop it." he said, "Thank you Xiu." He ruffled Xiu's hair, much to the annoyance of the girl, only her annoyance didn't match the Avatar's.

"Yeah, thanks Xiu!" said a blindfolded Sanosuke, scowling at Xiu.

She shifted her feet guiltily and walked back to the spectators.

Rikiya ran to the top of the hill while Sanosuke stood at the bottom. The earthbender shoved the rock forward and it began to roll down the slope. Sanosuke looked worried and afraid as it rolled toward him. Xiu, Kya, and Aura covered their faces with their hands. Toshiro looked on with a worried look on his face. Sanosuke's teeth were clenched and beads of sweat flowed down his face. Momo cowered down on Xiu's head. Sanosuke suddenly jumped to the side to dodge the boulder just when it was about to hit him. The boulder rolled passed the girls and Toshiro and slammed into the side of the canyon. Sanosuke got off the ground, removing the blindfold as he did so. Rikiya ran down the slope and up to Sanosuke, glaring at him disapprovingly.

"I guess I just panicked." said Sanosuke, "I don't know what to say."

"There's nothing to say." Rikiya said angrily, "You blew it. You had a perfect stance and perfect form but when it came right down to it you didn't have the guts." Sanosuke glared at Rikiya.

"You know, if you're not tough enough to stop the rock," continued the earthbender, "Then you could at least give it the pleasure of crushing you instead of jumping out of the way like a wimp! Now, do you have what it takes to face that rock like an earthbender!"

"No." said Sanosuke quietly. He still glared at Rikiya. "I don't think I do." He turned and walked away.

Rikiya crossed his arms, scowling. Sanosuke handed Xiu her belt while he passed her. She ran after him while she tied on her belt.

"Sanosuke, it's no big deal." she said. She put a hand on his arm. "Just take a break and try earthbending again when you're ready. How about I give you a few chi blocking lessons?"

"Yeah..." answered Sanosuke, still annoyed, "That sounds good."

"Yeah, whatever, go poke each other until you feel better." Rikiya called after the two.

Elvira squated down to examine something on the earth floor. She found some footprints and they looked fresh. Behind her on komodo rhinos were two of her soldiers.

"They could belong to some Earth Kingdom traveler." said Cari, her second in command.

"No, they don't." said Elvira. Her fingers traced the inside of one of the footprints. "Whoever these footprints belong to weren't wearing shoes made in the Earth Kingdom. They were wearing shoes from the Water Tribes." a small smile creeped on her face. "Men, I think we found who we're looking for!"

She ran to her komodo rhino and jumped on its back. She urged it forward into a run and the rhino ran forward. Her soldiers were close behind her. She looked down at the tracks and followed them for several minutes until they suddenly stopped. She had her rhino stop, raising her arm to signal the men to stop also. The soldiers did so and everything was silent. Elvira jumped off her mount and examined the tracks. They were fresh but the trail just stopped. She looked around but didn't see any rocks to climb or any rivers to jump. She suddenly heard the sound of a body hitting the ground and a grunt of pain. She looked behind her and saw one of her soldiers on the ground.

"I don't know what happened." the soldier said, groaning while he sat up, "It's like something invisable knocked me over!"

Something blue swooped over them. Elvira felt a powerful wind and Cari was forced off his rhino. While he got to his feet, groaning, Elvira looked at the canopy of trees, eyes scanning not just for something blue, but for some movement. She saw some leaves in a tree move and she shot a fireball at them. The fire burnt the leaves in the tree and a hogmonkey jumped out from the leaves and into a different tree. Cari and the other soldier stood behind Elvira and the three soldiers looked around.

"This is pointless," growled Elvira, "Just burn the forest!"

She and the two soldiers firebended the trees surrounding them, making sure not to burn the komodo rhinos. Screeching birds shot out of the trees and flew into the sky. Elvira's cruel smile changed into a frown when the blue thing flew into the burning forest and flew over the fire. While it flew over the fire, the flames were immediately put out. The fire died down. Through the smoke Elvira saw that it was a boy in Water Tribe clothing riding a blue glider. She shot a fireball at the boy who narrowly dodged but skidded to the ground. The boy let go of his glider and rolled on the ground. The boy groaned and got on his hands and knees but a foot slammed down on his back, forcing him down on the ground again. Cari forced the boy's arms behind him and tied his wrists together.

"Let go of me!" yelled the boy. He struggled but it was no use. Elvira crouched down next to him.

"Look kid, we can do this the easy way or the hard way."

The boy glared defiantly at the woman and continued to struggle. Elvira shrugged.

"The easy way then."

She stood up, looked down at Cari when he was finished and nodded. He smirked, walked a short distance, and picked up a large rock. He walked back over to the boy, wieghing the rock in his hand, then brought it down hard on the boy's head. The boy laid on the ground, unconscious. Cari tossed the rock aside and turned the boy over so the soldiers could see his face.

"This ain't the Avatar." said the third soldier. "I recognize him from our last attack on the Southern Tribe. What do we do with him?" He added, looking at Elvira.

Elvira walked away from the boy and grabbed his fallen staff. She turned it over in her hands while she looked it over. She had heard of it and seen pictures of it; she recognized it as the last Avatar's staff. An idea came to her. She threw the staff to the ground and addressed her soldiers.

"We're taking the boy with us. I doubt he's traveling alone. He'll be perfect bait."

"Bait?" questioned Cari.

"The last Avatar was the last airbender and owned a flying bison." she pointed at the boy, "This kid has to be his son. That night at the North Pole, I saw a flying bison. No doubt he's following in his mother's footsteps and helping the new Avatar learn the other elements."

She approached and mounted her komodo rhino. She looked down at the soldiers. "Bring him."

Cari grabbed the boy and dumped him on his rhino. The soldiers mounted their rhinos and rode out of the woods. Before they left, Elvira ripped something off her chest armor and tossed it next to the staff.

"Where is Haruki? He should've been back two hours ago." said Xiu. It was nightfall already and the team were grouped around a campfire. Xiu was pacing.

"It's getting late." said Kya. "I think it's time we searched for him."

"We'll find him faster if we split up." said Rikiya.

"Let's split up into groups." said Jin. "Toshiro and Kya," she pointed at the Water Tribe siblings, "Aura, and Rikiya," she pointed at the acrobat and earthbender, "Xiu and Sanosuke," she pointed at the youngest in the group and the Avatar, "You're with me."

"Take Appa with you." Kya told Jin, "It'll be safer for the Avatar to be in the sky than in the forest."

Jin, Xiu, and Sanosuke flew on the bison over the forest. After several minutes, Xiu noticed something below.

"Look at that!" she told the others. They looked down and saw a large group of trees that were black. Jin had Appa land on top of the trees that weren't burnt and the kids slid off Appa and climbed down from the trees. They ran to the area where the trees were black and saw that the trees were burnt from a large amount of fire.

"What happened here?" asked Sanosuke while he looked around. He tripped over something and stumbled slightly. He looked down and found Haruki's staff.

"It's Haruki's glider." he picked it up and held it out for the girls to see it.

Jin gasped and pointed at the ground. The other two looked where she was pointing and saw a silver phoenix emblem. Jin picked it up.

"The symbol of the Chikara Army." she whispered. She squeezed her eyes shut to keep the tears from falling. With a scream of rage she threw it on the ground and shot fire at it. Xiu held onto Sanosuke's arm, a scared look on her face. Sanosuke couldn't take his eyes off Jin's face, which looked pained and had tears streaming down. She stopped torching the emblem and fell to her knees sobbing.


	4. Chapter 4: The Rescue

disclaimer: I don't own ATLA but I do own the OCs

* * *

Haruki's vision blurred as he slowly gained consciousness. He groaned when he felt his head throb painfully.

"My head." he groaned. He tried to raise a hand to rub the big bump from where the rock hit but realized he was tied up. His vision became more clear and he found himself tied to a tree.

He struggled to free himself but he was bound tight. He looked around to see where he was. He was in a forest and was near a camp filled with people in dark armor. He began to

remember what had happened before he was knocked out and kicked himself mentally.

_Idiot! How could you have gotten yourself captured like that?_ He mentally berated himself, _You should have trained more!_

"Don't bother struggling." said a voice, "It won't work."

Haruki looked to the right and saw a man leaning against a tree. The man wore the black Chikara Army armor. He had a pair of hookswords for weapons. His face was hidden in the shadows but Haruki could tell he was chewing on a piece of wheat.

"Funny," said the man, "You look so much like him."

The man stepped out of the shadows and the airbender was able to see what he looked like.

The man looked to be around his Uncle Sokka's age, if not a year or two more, and had shaggy brown hair that had bits of gray in it. The man started walking towards Haruki but the airbender just blew air at him. The blast of air knocked the man off his feet and sent him sprawling on the ground. The man stood up and raised his hands in surrender.

"Take it easy, kid." said the man, "I'm a friend."

"Chikara Army soldiers aren't my friends!" growled Haruki.

"Listen, I'm gonna get you outta here."

Haruki scoffed

"Yeah. Right."

"No. Really." The man cautiously walked back over to Haruki in case he would airbend at him again. "I'm gonna help you."

"How do I know I can trust you."

The man chuckled softly.

"You remind me of Katara." said the man.

"How do you know my mom?" asked Haruki, both shocked and still suspicious.

"Now's not the right time-"

"Looks like our little guest is finally awake."

Haruki and the man named Jet both looked at an approaching young woman. Behind her was the man who tied Haruki up.

"This kid giving you any trouble Jet?" asked the young woman

The name sounded familiar to Haruki. He couldn't recall where he had heard the name before.

"Nah," Jet answered, "It looks like our little guest knows some manners."

"Nothing like hitting a kid on the head to teach him about respect." said the man behind the woman.

Haruki glared daggers at him and he smirked back.

"You know, I'm surprised no one has come to rescue you yet." The woman approached Haruki. She bent over slightly so her gold eyes were level with Haruki's blue ones.

"I know you're traveling with the Avatar," said the woman, "And you are going to tell me where he is."

Haruki spat in the woman's face and she staggered backwards. She wiped the spit out of her eye with a look of disgust on her face mixed with fury. Haruki had noticed Jet trying to suppress a smile before getting punched in the face by the man that tied him up. His head hurt even worse now because of the second hit. The man pulled back his fist to hit Haruki again but the woman grabbed his arm.

"He's not worth it Cari." said the woman. She took a few steps toward Haruki, grabbed him by his hair, and hit his head back against the tree. She raised a warning finger at him.

"Be grateful that I'm letting you live, kid." she told Haruki in a deadly whisper, "You're lucky I need you alive or I would have let him do far worse than a punch in the face." She released Haruki and walked back to camp, Cari followed.

Jet waited until they were out of earshot before speaking.

"You okay, kid?" he asked.

Haruki didn't answer. His head hurt so much and his eyes were watering.

"Don't fall asleep, you might get a concussion." Jet looked at the camp behind him and back at Haruki.

"I need to get back to camp, my shift's over. Don't let the next guy provoke you, he'll just want you to give him a reason to hit you."

He looked back and saw a man walking over to the two and spoke in an undertone, "I've got the first watch tonight, when everyone's sleeping I'll come back and get you out of here."

"Hang on, how do I know I can trust you?" Haruki asked again.

"You don't." answered Jet. "Do you have a choice?" He smirked when Haruki didn't answer and left.

Despite getting hit in the head three times that day and not getting much sleep, Haruki felt wide awake. His eyes scanned the dark forest for Jet. When he was about to give up waiting around for the man and think of a different way out of there, he heard footsteps and looked up to see a man sneaking over to the airbender.

"Jet?" whispered Haruki.

The man brought his finger to his lips and shushed Haruki. He cupped his hands and made a whistle like a birdcall. There was a short silence then there was a reply birdcall. Haruki couldn't help but be impressed. Jet hurried over to Haruki and pulled out a knife. The knife sliced through the bonds easily and Haruki was free. Haruki rubbed where the ropes chafed his skin.

"I got some friends that can help you out of here." whispered Jet. He handed Haruki a package and a water pouch. "Here's some rations that will last you a few days. By then maybe you'll be with your friends again."

"Why are you helping me?" asked Haruki.

"I'm actually a spy against the Chikara Army. This is Longshot and Smellerbee." He added, gesturing at two people that appeared behind Haruki.

One of the people, a man, wore blue clothes and a paddy-hat. He had a bow and some arrows with him. The other person, a woman, had face paint and had a headband around her head. A sword was slung across her back. Her brown hair was long and shaggy. Haruki recognized those names too.

"You don't know some guys named Pipsqueak and The Duke, do you?" he asked Jet.

Jet chuckled.

"No doubt your mom told you about me and my Freedom Fighters." said Jet.

"She said that you died in Lake Laogai."

"Nah. I got hurt pretty bad but now's not the time for stories. Now's the time for you to get out of here. The others are waiting for you."

The woman grabbed Haruki's arm and she and the man started leading Haruki deeper into the forest. They stopped when Jet started talking again.

"Hey kid..." Haruki looked back at Jet, "Next time you see your mom, tell her Jet said 'Hey.'"

Haruki nodded and followed Smellerbee and Longshot again. 


	5. Chapter 5: Xiu's Story

disclaimer: I don't own ATLA but I do own the OCs

* * *

The team searched the forest and the skies for Haruki but they couln't find him. While searching from above they saw a Chikara Army camp but they couldn't see any sign of Haruki with the soldiers.

"We'll find him." Kya assured the others the night after they found out he was gone. They were grouped around a fire in a small clearing. "Let's just get a few hours of sleep and start looking again. I'll do the first watch."

The others agreed and took out their sleeping bags. They all grouped around Appa and began to fall asleep.

Kya climbed a tree and sat down on a thick branch that had a good view over the forest. She watched for any movement and her ears strained for any sound. After a while she started nodding off.

"Shift's over."

Kya nearly fell off the branch when Xiu spoke. The youngest acrobat sibling had climbed up the tree and was sitting on a thick branch near Kya on the other side of the tree.

"You scared me." said Kya. She put her hand over her heart which was beating fast.

"Sorry." said Xiu with a guilty smile. "I've been known to sneak up on people, even when I don't mean to."

"When did you wake up?"

"I've been awake. I couldn't sleep."

"You're worried about Haruki, aren't you?"

Xiu fiddled with her necklace.

"I-I know I've only known him for a few weeks but... I don't think I can deal with losing someone again. Especially someone I've been getting to know."

Kya hesitated then asked, "What happened to your father?"

Xiu didn't answer. She just stayed silent and continued fiddling with her necklace.

"If you don't want to answer, it's fine." said Kya quickly, "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have asked-"

"No, it's fine. I've never actually told anyone this before."

Xiu sighed.

"My father fought in the Fire Nation army. One day when he and some soldiers were on their way home on leave, they were ambushed and were either captured or killed. My father was one of the unlucky ones."

She looked at Kya and the older girl saw that the acrobat was fighting back tears.

"He died the day I was born. He knew my mom was due soon and was coming home to surprise the family."

"I'm so sorry, Xiu." whispered Kya.

"My mom and sisters didn't even know what happened until a few weeks later when Fire Lord Zuko told us."

She fiddled with her necklace some more then spoke again.

"See this necklace?" she pointed at her necklace which was a red ribbon with a charm hanging off it in the shape of a flame. Kya nodded.

"It's beautiful." commented Kya.

"My father made it for me while my mother was pregnant. It was tradition in his family that the father of the baby would make something for the baby. If it was a boy that something would be a weapon. If it was a girl, that something would be a necklace. Since all his children were girls, my dad had a feeling that I would be a girl and got started making the necklace right away. When Fire Lord Zuko told my family what happened to my father, he told us that my necklace was found tied to my father's wrist."

Xiu wiped a tear from her eye and cleared her throat. She chuckled a little. "Listen to me, talking about the past when I should be watching for soldiers and you should be getting some sleep."

Kya hesitated again and climbed down from her branch. Xiu pulled out her knife and rammed it into the trunk of the tree. She cupped her hands over the handle, put her ear to it, and waited. She suddenly sensed someone coming.

"Kya!" she silently called the oldest girl.

"What is it?" asked Kya. She was almost at the bottom of the tree.

"There's someone coming."

"How many?"

"I think there's five."

"Get down here, we have to tell the others."

Xiu yanked her knife out of the tree and jumped down the branches of the tree. She landed catlike on the ground next to Kya and they ran back to the others.

Before they made it back, however, an arrow whizzed past them, causing them to stop and look back. A man not too far away let two more arrows fly. The girls dodged the arrows. Kya pulled out her fans but Xiu was already running towards the man. She pulled out her knife and threw it at the man but he jumped to the side to avoid the blade. Xiu used the distraction to somersault over the man and land behind him. She jabbed at his arm which hung limply at his side. She made to jab at him again when a woman swung a sword downward between Xiu and the man. Xiu jumped back to avoid the attack. The woman swung at Xiu again. Kya jumped in front of Xiu and parried the blade with her katana. Kya and the woman engaged in a fight while Xiu delt with the man. She jabbed at other parts of the man's body and he fell to the ground, paralyzed. Xiu searched the ground for her knife so she could help Kya but two large hands grabbed her and picked her up. Her arms were pinned to her side so the most she could do was kick at the man holding her and hope it made contact. Kya saw Xiu get caught by a large man and ran over to him to help her but another man wearing a helmet blocked the attack with his quarterstaff.

"Kya? Xiu?"

Xiu stopped struggling and Kya, the man, and the woman stopped fighting and looked at the owner of the voice; it was Haruki.

"Haruki!" screamed Kya. She dropped her katana and ran to her cousin and held him in a tight embrace, crying. "I'm so glad you're safe." she said in between sobs.

The large man set Xiu down and she ran to Haruki and hugged him too. She was also sobbing.

"I was so worried." she told him.

"Really?" asked Haruki.

Xiu released him and wiped away her tears, frowning. She scoffed.

"Yeah, right. Get over yourself, airhead."

Haruki was taken aback at her attitude. She smiled to show that she was joking and hugged him again.


	6. Chapter 6: Jin's Dream

disclaimer: I don't own ATLA but I do own the OCs

* * *

Sanosuke tossed and turned in his sleeping bag. For a big fluffy bison, Appa wasn't exactly comfortable to sleep on. He heard a murmer and looked to his right where Jin slept next to him. He knew it was a weird thing to do, but the Avatar couldn't help but watch her sleep since he couldn't. Not only because he wasn't comfortable, but because he was worried about Haruki. Sure, they weren't exactly close and there were times when they got into some arguments but it didn't mean Sanosuke didn't care about what would happen to his, what did Aura call them? Oh yeah, frienemy. When he saw the smile on her face he could only imagine what kind of dream she was having.

_"Happy Birthday Izuru!" Twelve year old Jin cried out to her brother. _

_Today he was two years old. The family were spending the week at Ember Island at their beach house. Zuko didn't want to use the one his family went to because it was filled things that were too painful to remember so he had bought another one that was almost as large as his family's old one. Not that anything bad happened in their old beach house, it was the good times he spent with his family when they were actually happy was too painful for Zuko. He missed his mother too much and hadn't been able to find her yet because his father refused to tell him where she was.  
Izuru and their mother were in the courtyard and Mai was dipping Izuru's bare feet into the water of the fountain, much to the delight of the toddler when Jin approached them and sat down at the fountain's edge. She took off her shoes and placed her feet in the water.  
_

_Izuru cheered and reached his arms out to Jin.  
_

_"Jin Jin!"  
_

_Jin smiled when she heard her nickname and accepted the hug with a wide smile and placed the toddler on her lap.  
_

_"You're up early." said Mai.  
_

_"Well, what can I say?" asked Jin. "I rise with the sun."  
_

_It wasn't just Jin that said this. She looked behind her and saw her father, Fire Lord Zuko, walking towards his wife and children. He sat down next to Mai and they kissed good morning. He patted Izuru on the head.  
_

_"Happy Birthday, son." said Zuko.  
_

_Izuru reached out for his father. Zuko chuckled and picked up his son for a hug. Jin smiled more when she watched her father give her brother one of his rare hugs. What with the war going on, Zuko was too busy to be with his family as much as he wanted. He always found a way to make his days free for special ocassions such as birthdays or anniversaries.  
_

_"We're going out tonight." Zuko informed his wife and eldest daughter. Jin groaned.  
_

_"We're not going to see the Ember Island Players, are we?" she asked.  
_

_Zuko and Mai laughed.  
_

_"No, don't worry," said Zuko, "We're going to have some fun tonight."  
_

_"What are we doing?" asked Jin, suddenly excited.  
_

_"It's surprise." said Zuko with a sly smile. Jin crossed her arms and pouted and her parents laughed.  
_

_"Go wake your sisters," said Mai, "We'll be going out to breakfast this morning."_

That night, Zuko lead his family into the town while holding Jin's hand.  


_"Father, you don't need to hold my hand." groaned an embarrased Jin.  
_

_"I just don't want you to get lost." said Zuko.  
_

_"We're not even going through a big crowd or anything!"  
_

_Zuko said nothing, he just squeezed Jin's hand and she gave up. She kept her head down so nobody would see the look of embarrasment on her face. With her looking at her feet while she walked she hardly paid any attention to her surroundings. She didn't even notice her dad stopping until she was a few steps ahead and felt her arm tug backwards.  
_

_"We're here." said Zuko, letting go of her hand.  
_

_Jin looked up and saw the tents.  
_

_"The circus!" exclaimed Jin. She gasped when she thought of something. She looked at her father for confirmation. When he nodded she cheered and ran towards the tents.  
_

_"Jin wait!" But Jin didn't stop, she kept running to the tent, looking around for a specific one until she saw a large pink one. Her eyes lit up with excitement as she ran toward the pink one and __entered it.  
_

_"Aunt Ty Lee!" she shouted.  
_

_"Jin!" The acrobat bounced to the princess and gave her a platypus bear hug. "I was hoping your family would make it before the show started! Where are they?"  
_

_"They're coming." answered Jin. She looked around for other people but the tent was empty. Ty Lee giggled.  
_

_"The girls are in Xiu's tent. They're helping her get ready for her first performance."  
_

_Jin thanked the acrobat and ran out of the tent. She ran to the little red one that was next to the pink one and entered it. She almost giggled at the sight. _

_Sitting at her dressing table was Xiu looking very displeased and wearing heavy make up. She wore an outfit similar to her sisters and her mother's. It even showed her stomache, making her burn scar noticable. Xiu had gotten the scar a long time ago. She had said that she was attacked but never said who attacked her. Aura was working on Xiu's long hair which was out of its ponytail and little braid and was instead pulled back into different braids. Xiu had a braid on either side of her face that was pulled back, almost resembling Katara and Kya's hair loopies and the rest of her hair was pulled back in a braid resembling Ty Lee's. Xiu looked up at her reflection and was the first one to see Jin.  
_

_"Jin!" she exclaimed. She tried getting up but Aura pushed her back down.  
_

_"Not yet, Xiu." said Aura, "I'm still doing your braid." She turned her head to give Jin her famous large smile. "Hi Jin!"  
_

_Jin waved and was soon pounced on Jun and Zuri. They hugged her and started talking at once.  
_

_"I can't believe you're here!"  
_

_"When did you get here?"  
_

_"Are you going to watch the show?"  
_

_Morana and Ursa ran into the tent and Zuri and Jun squealed with happiness. They released Jin and hugged her younger sisters. Xiu fidgeted impatiently.  
_

_"Almost done." said Aura, "Just one more thing..." _

_She walked to Xiu's desk where a box sat. She opened the box and pulled out a gold head piece. She brought it to Xiu and placed it delicately on her youngest sister's head.  
_

_"You're ready."  
_

_As soon as Aura said those words Xiu jumped to her feet and rushed over to Jin to give her a hug.  
_

_"I heard you're performing tonight!" said Jin, "You must be really excited!"  
_

_"Oh yes," answered Xiu, "I'm really looking forward to performing with my family."  
_

_Jin noticed that there was something forced about Xiu's smile but didn't say anything for Aura hugged her also. Their parents entered the tent, smiling at the children's reunion. Izuru laughed when he saw Xiu's outfit and make up.  
_

_"Yeah, yeah, laugh it up kid." said Xiu.  
_

_"Remember, dear, he's only two years old." said Ty Lee. She fluffed her youngest daughter's head and hugged her tightly.  
_

_"I know you will be great tonight!" she whispered.  
_

_"We better get to our seats." said Zuko. "Come on, girls."  
_

_"Oh yes! The show is going to start soon!" said Ty Lee, releasing her youngest daughter and rushing out of the tent. __Her older daughters were at her heel. _

_The royal family left the tent too. Jin was about to follow her family when she felt something tug on her sleeve. She looked back and saw Xiu holding onto her sleeve.  
_

_"Can I talk to you?" she asked. She was looking sad.  
_

_"Can it wait until after the show?" asked Jin.  
_

_"It's about the show." said Xiu.  
_

_"Oh, what is it?"  
_

_Xiu took a deep breathe.  
_

_"I don't want to be an acrobat."  
_

_"Really?" This surprised Jin; all of Xiu's sisters had dreamed of becoming acrobats since they could first walk. "Well, what do you want to do?"  
_

_"I want to work with animals." Xiu sat down at her dressing table and laid her head over her arms. She looked at her reflection with dislike. "It's always been my passion. I wanted to tell my mom but she's so excited about my performance. I don't want to let her down."  
_

_Jin placed her hand on her friend's shoulder.  
_

_"I'm sure your mother will understand. Just tell her after the show-"  
_

_"It'll be too late. If I perform one thing tonight and do something else the next night it'll just confuse the audience or something. I wish I could work with the animals tonight. I've been practicing with them every chance I got."  
_

_An idea sprung in Jin's head.  
_

_"Looks like there's going to be a little change in the program tonight, Xiu."_

"Where's Xiu?" asked Ty Lee. She and her older daughters were outside the performance tent waiting for their cue to start and looking around for the youngest acrobat at the same time.  


_"We're on after the animals!" said Zuri._

Jin sat down next to her father in the audience.  


_"Where were you?" he asked her in an undertone, "You missed the first two performances."  
_

_"There was something I had to do." answered Jin.  
_

_"Ladies and Gentlemen," called out the Ring Master, "I now present the Ostritch horse Rider!"  
_

_The audience cheered. Jin leaned forward and beckoned the Ring Master to come to her. He approached her looking confused. She whispered something to him and he looked even more confused.  
_

_"Are you certain you want to do this, Princess Jin?" he asked nervously.  
_

_Jin smiled and nodded.  
_

_"Very well." He went back to the center of the ring and called everyone's attention.  
_

_"Ladies and Gentlemen, it seems there's been a slight change in the performance."  
_

_The audience murmered to each other. The family of acrobats poked their heads through the tent flap to hear what the Ring Master had to say.  
_

_"Tonight, for her very first performance, we have young Xiu who will be the ostritch horse rider!"  
_

_The royal family except Jin gasped, the same with Ty Lee and her daughters.  
_

_"That can't be right." said Ty Lee.  
_

_"Jin, what did you do?" asked Zuko.  
_

_"Just smile and enjoy the show, Father." answered Jin.  
_

_An ostritch horse wearing a gold get up burst into the tent. On the back of the animal in a handstand was Xiu. _

_Her hair was out of the braids and back in its usual ponytail and small braid. She wore her regular red outfit and her face was clean of the heavy make up. She had taken off the gold headpiece. She brought down her other hand onto the animal's back and quickly stood on her feet in a blink of an eye. _

_She performed more impressive stunts on the ostritch horse until the performance was over. She flipped backwards off the ostritch horse before it stopped and landed on her feet with her arms out in a "Ta da!" gesture.  
_

_The audience was silent for a moment before cheering wildly. Xiu bowed to the audience Fire Nation style and lead the animal out._

The rest of the performance went on like normal. The circus trainer had the animals do their tricks and Ty Lee and her older daughters did their usual performances on the tight ropes. 

_Just when it seemed like it was over and the audience members started standing up to leave, the Ring Master once again called their attention.  
_

_"The night's not over yet everyone!" he informed them. "We have one more performance for tonight only!"  
_

_Jin felt her father's hand on her shoulder.  
_

_"Come on." he whispered to her.  
_

_"But it's not over yet." objected Jin.  
_

_"I know," said Zuko. He took her hand again and lead her out of their private box. The others stayed behind. _

_The younger princesses gave their sister and father quizzical looks while Mai smiled and mouthed "Good luck."  
_

_"What's going on, Father?" Jin found herself being lead to the center of the ring by her father.  
_

_"We have Fire Lord Zuko and Princess Jin to perform a firebending form that had been long forgotten in honor of young Prince Izuru's birthday."  
_

_Jin clung shyly to her father. She had stage fright.  
_

_"What are we doing, Father?" she asked him.  
_

_"We're going to dance, Jin." said Zuko with a smile. _

_At first Jin was confused until she realized what her father meant. They stood back to back, Jin's right side facing the audience while Zuko's left faced it. Together, they performed the Dancing Dragon with firebending._

"Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you!" said Xiu while she hugged Jin. "That was so much fun!"  


_"Your mom's not mad is she?" asked Jin nervously.  
_

_"No! In fact, she was really happy and told me that she's really glad that I'm doing something I love. She's going to talk to the Ring Master to see if I can perform with the animals from now on!"  
_

_"I'm so happy for you!" Jin hugged Xiu.  
_

_"Come on, Jin!" called Mai, "It's time to go home."  
_

_Jin said her goodbyes and left with her family._

"So what do you guys think?" asked Zuko when they made it back to their beach house, "Do you think this had to be the best birthday Izuru's ever had?"  


_"For a second birthday, yes." said Mai, rolling her eyes with a smile.  
_

_"I had so much fun doing the Dancing Dragon with you, Father." said Jin.  
_

_Zuko hugged his eldest daughter.  
_

_"I knew you would." he said.  
_

_"Can you teach me the dragon dance, Father?" asked Ursa.  
_

_"I wish I could firebend." said Morana with a pout.  
_

_"I'll teach it to you anyway, Morana." said Zuko with a smile.  
_

_"Time for bed." said Mai.  
_

_Morana and Ursa hugged their parents goodnight and went to their rooms. Jin hugged her parents.  
_

_"That was a good thing you did, darling." said Mai.  
_

_"I just wanted my friend to be happy." Jin yawned.  
_

_"Come on, my little firebender." said Zuko. "The sun's gone to bed, which means you need to too."  
_

_Jin smiled and hugged her father again. She kissed a sleeping Izuru on the forehead.  
_

_"Happy Birthday, Izuru." she whispered._

"Happy Birthday, Izuri." Fourteen year old Jin whispered in her sleep.

Someone started shaking her awake. She groaned and turned over.

"Jin, come on, wake up!"

Jin reluctantly opened her eyes and sat up.

"What's going on?" she asked Xiu while she rubbed her eyes.

"Haruki's back!" said Kya, excitedly. She and Xiu began waking the others and telling them the news.

Jin yawned and looked down to her side and saw Sanosuke asleep. She reached out and gently brushed his hair out of his face.

"I won't fail you like I failed Izuri, Sanosuke." Jin quietly promised.

She woke him up and told him the news. He smiled widely and jumped out of his sleeping bag. When the others were awake they ran to the woods. Sanosuke looked back when he noticed Jin wasn't with them, instead she was rummaging in her bag.

"Aren't you coming?" he asked.

"You go. I'll catch up." she said.

Sanosuke ran after the others again. Jin reached into her bag and pulled out a picture of her and Izuru. A tear fell down her face.

"Happy Birthday, Izuru." she said softly. "If only I could have helped you." She took a deep breathe and sang softly, keeping her voice from cracking with great difficulty.

_Leaves from the vine, falling so slow.  
_

_Like fragile, tiny shells,  
_

_Drifting in the foam.  
_

_Little soldier boy, come marching home.  
_

_Brave soldier boy, comes marching home._

* * *

I made this chapter in honor of my little sister :) she turned five during the time I wrote this


	7. Chapter 7: Hiding Out at the Temple

"I can't believe Jet's been alive all this time." said Kya after Longshot, Smellerbee, Pipsqueak, The Duke, and Haruki had explained to the group what happened.

After the Freedom Fighters and Haruki told Kya and Xiu what happened, the girls woke up the others to hear what had happened.

"How can that be?" asked Rikiya, "My mom told me that when Jet said he would be okay, she could tell that he was lying."

"He was lying at the time." explained Smellerbee, "He didn't think he'd survive."

"But how did he?" asked Toshiro.

"Sorry, kid." said Pipsqueak, "That's a story for another time. We were told to just bring Haruki back to you and get back to the hideout."

"Can't we go with you?" asked Aura.

"No, sorry, kid." apologized Smellerbee, "It'd be too dangerous for us all. Word's already traveling around about you guys. The best thing for you to do is go incognito for a while."

"That's sounds like a good idea." said Aura, "But just one question; where's Cognito?"

Xiu smacked her hand against her forehead.

"She means go in hiding, smart one." said Xiu, annoyed.

"Where do you suggest we go?" asked Kya when Aura opened her mouth.

"The Northern Air Temple." answered Smellerbee. "We've got some friends there you can meet with. We'll send a message for you. Stay at the temple until it reaches you; it'll tell you about all the safe places left in the Earth Kingdom and Fire Nation."

The sky started to lighten. It was morning.

"We better go." said Smellerbee. She handed Kya a scroll.

"There's the map to the Northern Air Temple. Good luck."

After the Freedom Fighters left, the kids ran back to Appa and started packing up.

When they took off into the sky on Appa, nobody felt tired from the lack of sleep. They felt fully awake. The team wouldn't allow Haruki to take the reins because they felt that he needed rest and because he needed to be looked over because his bruises and scratches were now noticeable in the sunlight.

"I keep telling you guys, I'm fine." said Haruki but his friends ignored him.

"You need rest." said Kya, her motherly instincs kicking in.

She placed both her hands on his shoulders and pushed him gently on his back. When Xiu threatened to chi block him if he sat up again, he knew he had no choice but to lay there and try to fall asleep.

The kids traveled for a few days. It was lucky that they were still in the northern part of the Earth Kingdom before otherwise it wouldv'e taken longer. Haruki, Jin, Sanosuke, and Toshiro consulted the map to see where they were while Kya took the reins.

"We should be there soon." said Toshiro. "We were just at this town this morning," he pointed at a spot on the map, "So it should be a couple minutes before we get there."

"Dad said that it's really amazing." said Kya, "There's pipes in the walls and there are some pretty cool inventions there."

"From what my dad told me about your dad," said Jin, "Of course he'd be impressed over a little thing like pipes. I mean, this is the guy that thinks the creation of the blubbered seal jerky is the greatest one yet."

Back in the Fire Nation palace, Zuko was reading some reports when Sokka bursted into the room, and hit Zuko on the back of the back of his head.

"I don't know why I just did that," said Sokka, "But I had a feeling you deserved it."

And with that Sokka walked out of the office, leaving a very confused Zuko behind.

"Geez, Jin what's got your bindings in a knot?" asked Xiu, "I'm usually the sour one around here."

"I'm just really tired okay?" snapped Jin, "We've been riding for hours and I haven't had a good night's sleep in a couple days."

"Maybe if we don't make it to the temple by tonight we can see if we can find a village or a barn to get you something to help you sleep." said Kya, "Like maybe we can get you some milk and warm it up or maybe some herbs we can make into tea."

"I don't even like tea." said Jin.

Iroh burst into Zuko's office and hit him on the back of the head.

"WHAT IS WITH EVERYONE AND HITTING ME TODAY?" Zuko yelled when his uncle left

"Would it help if I sang you a lullaby?" asked Xiu with sarcasm.

Rikiya laughed.

"I think she wants to have more sleep, not get a headache." he said

Xiu glared daggers at the earthbender.

"Guys, it's fine." said Jin, "I've just been pretty stressed out, like you know, Haruki getting kidnapped and stuff."

"Well, once we go into hiding we'll be able to relax a little." said Aura.

"Relaxing is a waste of time." said Haruki.

Jin smirked.

"Geez, airboy, you're starting to sound like my father."

"What I'm thinking is that instead of wasting time being lazy, maybe we could get disuises and maybe sneak into the army-"

"Bad idea." Xiu said immediately.

"Why?"

"We wouldn't exactly fit in. Kya? Yeah, she might fit into the army since she's old enough, is more serious, and has had more training. Rikiya never thinks things through and is a total idiot (Hey!" Rikiya protested but Xiu ignored him). You already got captured by the army so they know what you look like and there's the fact that because you hate Chikara Army soldiers with a passion, there will be a chance you'll blow our cover by killing them all. Toshiro is...well, Toshiro. (The acrobat ignored the glare she got from the Water Tribe warrior). Jin's the _princess _of the _Fire Nation, _everyone knows what she looks like. Aura's is too bubbly and happy and filled with rainbows to take on the role. And then there's me."

"Why wouldn't you fit it?" asked Kya.

"You honestly believe the army is going to let a _thirteen_ year old join?" Xiu snorted and chuckled, "Please."

"Hey guys," Kya said suddenly, "Look!"

The gang all looked ahead and saw a giant beautiful temple sitting atop a sheer peak. There are people on gliders flying around the temple. Smoke rose in lazy pillars from a couple places among the spires. Aura gasped.

"They must be airbenders!" she said excitedly.

"No, they're not." said Haruki.

"What do you mean they're not?" asked Xiu, "Those guys are _flying_!"

"Gliding maybe," said Haruki, "But not flying. You can tell by the way they move. They're not airbending. Those people don't have spirit."

As soon as he finished speaking, something swooped low over the kids, nearely knocking them out of the saddle. The glider pilot laughs.

"Sorry!" yelled the pilot. It sounded female.

The teenage girl wearing amber goggles laughed and turned her craft around for another pass at Appa.

"She seems pretty spirited to me." said Xiu.

Haruki, with a competitive look on his face, grabbed his glider, jumped into the air, unfolded his glider and took off. Kya sighed.

"Oh here we go." she said in an annoyed and bored tone.

The other gliders flew in formation around Appa who landed gracefully on one of the temple's outer terraces. The girl glider, still laughing, soared upward, Haruki flew up next to her with an unhappy expression on his face. Below, the residents of the temple watched Haruki and the girl glide. They shouted encouragements to the girl.

The girl swerved to the right away from Haruki and dove. Haruki smirked and followed. As he followed, he flew into a loop in the air and continued following her. Soon they were neck and neck with each other.

"Nice one." said the girl, looking impressed.

"Yeh, I know." said Haruki.

"Check this out." said the girl. She flipped herself over and stood on top of her glider with ease. Haruki looked on in shock.

"Jenni!"

The girl named Jenni nearly lost her balance for a second before getting it back again. She and Haruki looked down at the temple and saw a man in a wheelchair looking up at her.

"Come down here now!" he yelled.

Jenni sighed and surfed the glider to the temple. Haruki followed and they both landed on the ground. The man in the wheel chair rolled himself over to her looking very stern.

"What have I told you about air surfing?" he asked.

"To not to." she said.

Now that they were on the ground Haruki and the gang had a good look at Jenni. She looked to be slightly older than Kya and her short brown hair was pulled back into a ponytail. She wore green clothes like her father and her eyes were grey.

The man opened his mouth to say something to Jenni, no doubt to tell her off, when he noticed Haruki.

"Oh no way." said the man. He rolled over to Haruki to get a good look at him.

"You're Aang and Katara's kid aren't you?" he asked.

"Why?" asked the airbender.

"I was a friend of your parents. I'm Teo." he held out a hand which Haruki shook with a surprised look on his face.

"You're Teo?" asked Toshiro, "You're that kid that was an awesome glider pilot?"

"Well, I don't know about 'awesome'" said Teo with modesty. "And you're Sokka's kid too, am I right?"

"Yeah!" said Toshiro, "And this is my older sister Kya."

"Wow, it's been a long time since I've seen your parents." said Teo.

"I bet you're wondering why we're here." said Xiu.

"Actually, I do know." said Teo. He reached into his vest and pulled out a scroll. "We got a message from the Freedom Fighters yesterday. Let's go somewhere to talk."

He turned and wheeled away, but not before stopping to look at Jenni.

"Don't think that we're not going to have a talk about how you're gliding, young lady." he told her, once again stern. He wheeled away and the kids followed him. Jenni rolled her eyes before following also.


	8. Chapter 8: Shou

Teo knocked on a door and called out, "Dad, we've got company!" He opened the door and wheeled inside a room, the kids followed.

The room was filled with crates, some junk, and shelves that were filled with a large amount of books and scrolls and some strange looking inventions. In the back of the room in front of a window sat a desk. Behind it stood a man studying some parchment that showed what looked like plans for a new invention. The man wore green clothes and a white apron and he wore a manacle over his left eye. He was balding and what was left of his greying hair stood up in different directions. He had a mustache and a beard that were also becoming grey. He looked up when Teo and the kids entered the room and smiled when he saw who it was.

"You must be the kids the Freedom Fighters said were coming." said the man.

The team nodded. He walked around his desk and hurried over to the kids, taking each of their hands in turn to shake.

"I'm Teo's father." said the Mechanist

"My name is Kya." said the eldest member of the group. "This is my brother Toshiro. We're Sokka and Suki's kids."

"Sokka's children?" The Mechanist chuckled, "I should've known. You both look as intellegent as your father is. He was a real genius you know!"

Kya smiled with pride while Toshiro gave Xiu a smug smile.

"And you thought that I was an idiot." he muttered to her.

She punched him hard in the arm as a response. He yelped in pain and rubbed his hurt arm, grumbling.

"Our cousin, Haruki." said Kya, ignoring her brother and the youngest member of the group, "Aang and Katara's son."

"Ah, yes." The Mechanist closed his eyes and nodded solemnly, "He was a good man."

Haruki didn't respond. He just looked away. Xiu placed a comforting hand on his shoulder.

"Princess Jin, daughter of Fire Lord Zuko and Fire Lady Mai."

Jin smiled and bowed to the Mechanist who bowed back.

"An honor." he said.

Jin frowned and looked away in embarrasment, blushing.

"Rikiya, son of Toph. Aura and Xiu, two of Ty Lee's daughters, and Sanosuke...the Avatar."

"Yes, Smellerbee did say that the Avatar would be traveling with you." The Mechanist looked at Sanosuke closely and circled him as if inspecting him.

"You know, you don't look anything like Aang." he said, "Though I guess the Avatar wouldn't exactly look like the same person over and over again."

Jenni looked at the plans the Mechanist was working on.

"What are you working on now, Grandpa?" she asked.

"Oh, just a new invention!" the Mechanist said excitedly. He went back to his desk and picked up the plans to show Teo and the team. It was a drawing of a circle with triangles around the edges.

"Wow!" said Jin, tilting her head slightly, "That's a really interesting um...What is it supposed to be exactly?"

"I call it a 'water ring'" answered the Mechanist. "It's a little something for waterbenders to use to ride along the water or through the snow."

"How do they ride it?" asked Toshiro

"They strap it to their feet."

"That actually sounds like a good invention." said Sanosuke, "It would be pretty cool to use."

"Yeah, so you can act like a total show off in front of the girls." said Haruki.

Sanosuke shot a glare at the airbender.

"Some of us can't help but to show off." said Jenni. "I'm kind of a show off myself when it comes to gliding."

"Thanks for reminding me about that talk-" but Jenni cut Teo off.

"If you guys will excuse me..." She ran out of the room, glider in hand. Teo brought a hand to his face.

"I hate it when she does that." he muttered. He smiled at the kids again. "Well, make yourselves at home. If you need anything, don't hesitate to ask."

And with that, he wheeled out of the room. Kya addressed her friends.

"So, do you guys want to explore the temple?" she asked.

"Actually, I was hoping to maybe stick around here for a bit and take a look at these inventions," said Toshiro, "If that's okay with you, of course." he added, looking at the Mechanist hopefully. The older man chuckled.

"Of course you can, my boy." said the Mechanist.

The team left Toshiro with the Mechanist so they could take a look around the temple. The walls were all covered in pipes, it was difficult to see the artwork on the walls. Kya, who was a big history buff, was dissapointed to see that most of the temple had changed because of its new occupants but she held her tongue. The team went outside to watch some of the people who lived in the temple glide in the sky. Haruki was tempted to open his glider and show them how it was done but Xiu confiscated his glider to keep him from doing anything stupid.

"Just don't break it." grumbled Haruki as Xiu held the staff tightly in her hands out of his reach.

Xiu rolled her eyes. "What do you think I'm going to do?" she asked. "Bang it against the walls? Come on. I'm thirteen years old. I _think_ I'm more than capable of babysitting your precious glider."

Haruki scowled at the young acrobat.

"For your information that glider belonged to my father so I'd really appreciate it if you treated it with respect." he growled.

Xiu bended over and pulled her knife out of her boot. She straightened up and held the knife up to show Haruki.

"And for _your_ information this knife belonged to _my_ father and as you can see it's in pretty good condition ain't it?" She put her knife back into her boot.

"I really wish you'd keep Dad's knife somewhere else." said Aura.

"Relax, I got the holder in there."

"I wonder if there's a good spot to practice earthbending here." Rikiya said to Sanosuke. "It'd be good for us to continue your lessons."

Sanosuke looked like he would've preferred not to continue his lessons but agreed to help Rikiya look for a place to practice when he knew he had no choice. Both boys left, followed by Aura and Jin who Kya sent to keep the boys from killing each other. The Water Tribe girl decided to walk around the perimeter below the temple to see if there were any enemies around.

Kya enjoyed the time alone that she rarely ever had. It was very peaceful and she was able to take advantage of the silence to think of what the team's next move was. She sat down at the edge of one of the cliffs she was walking along and looked at the view. Of course there wasn't much of a view to look at because she was still high up from the ground. All she could see were clouds. She closed her eyes and breathed in the fresh air when she heard the sound of movement. She jumped to her feet and got into a fighting stance with her fans in her hands.

"Show yourself!" She yelled.

Some rocks rolled downhill in front of her and she looked up to see a boy her age sliding down the cliffs with his feet. He almost looked like he was surfing the way he moved down the side of the mountain. He stopped in front of Kya and dusted himself off. He was green clothes and most of his hair was in a top knot save for his bangs which covered the right side of his face. He looked slightly familiar to Kya.

"Who are you?" she demanded.

"Relax, Water Tribe." said the boy, his arms were crossed and he smirked at her. "I come in peace."

Kya didn't get out of her stance or lower her fans.

"What are you doing here?" she demanded. "Were you following me?"

"Jeez. Paranoid much? I was following you because I thought you dropped this." He reached into his vest and pulled out a knife. It looked unfamiliar to Kya.

"That's not mine." she answered

"Yeah, I know." said the boy, putting the knife back into his vest, "I just needed an excuse to come and talk to you."

Kya looked away so that the boy wouldn't see her blush. He already saw it and his smirk widened.

"My name is Shou." said the boy.

"I'm Kya."

Kya put her fans back into her belt.

"So why did you want to talk to me?" she asked.

"Well, I saw you back at the temple and I thought that you were pretty cute. I don't see girls like you at the temple."

"Well, I _am_ from the Water Tribe."

"If it weren't for your outfit, I wouldn't have guessed. You have Earth Kingdom weapons."

"My mom was from Kyoshi Island while my dad was from the Southern Water Tribe."

"I'm guessing that since you use weapons you're not a bender."

"I could say the same thing about you."

Shou raised an eyebrow.

"Really?"

He bended over and picked up a small rock. He straightened up and placed his other hand over the rock, completely covering it. He closed his eyes and made a face like as if he was concentrating then opened his eyes again. He lifted his hand off the rock and there sat a small stone statue of a polar bear dog instead of a rock. He held it out to Kya for her to take which she did. She saw that it was very much detailed, like it was almost alive. She looked back up at Shou who winked at her.

"See you around, Kya." he said before surfing down the side of the mountain again. 


	9. Chapter 9: Dinner Conversation

sorry that it took me a while to update

disclaimer - I don't own ATLA but I do own the OCs

* * *

"Where have you been?" Haruki demanded when Kya finally came back to the Mechanist's study where everyone had agreed to meet for dinner a few hours before. She held the small statue of the polar bear dog in her hands. The kids, Teo, his father, and Jenni were sitting on the floor in a circle. A pot of rice was sitting in the middle.

"I've just been looking around." answered Kya as she pocketed her rock and sat down between Xiu and Sanosuke. Sanosuke handed her her bowl of rice and she began to eat.

"So have we but we made sure to get back at the right time."

"Where are we the army?" asked Xiu. "What's next you're going to make a schedule of when we can go to the bathroom?"

Haruki shot a glare at the youngest member of the group which she ignored.

"So anything interesting happen while you were looking around?" she asked

"Not really." answered Kya. She was glad that the subject had been changed, "I was mostly trying to see if there were any Chikara Army soldiers nearby."

"And were there?" Haruki asked sharply.

Kya slapped her forehead.

"Oh no," she said sarcastically, "I knew there was something I should have mentioned."

Everyone except Haruki snorted in the rice.

"Seriously Haruki, did you really think that I would forget to mention something like that if it happened?"

"Well Sanosuke's made some improvement in his earthbending lesson today." said Jin.

Rikiya snorted, "Who knows? Maybe tomorrow we can move on to the rocks the side of your head."

He, Toshiro, Jenni, Haruki, and Aura laughed. Sanosuke scowled at the earthbender.

"Or maybe we can move on to metal." he said through gritted teeth.

"You're gonna have to wait a couple years for that, rookie." said Rikiya.

Sanosuke growled. Jin and Kya held his arms to keep him from attacking the earthbender.

"So did my dad teach you anything?" Teo asked Toshiro hastily in hopes of keeping a fight from happening.

Toshiro answered with much enthusiasm. "Oh yeah. Your dad let me help him get started on the water ring."

"With your help, it might be done in only a few days." the Mechanist said to Toshiro.

"You guys wanna try gliding tomorrow?" asked Jenni.

"You know it!" said Sanosuke, "Maybe I can get a headstart on airbending."

"You have to master earth and fire first." said Jin

"You won't need airbending to glide anyway." said Jenni, "But hey, sometimes I'm such a pro at it sometimes people actually think I'm an airbender." She chuckled. "If only."

"Just don't-"

"I won't air surf." Jenni interrupted her father, her eyes rolling. "Anyone else wanna try it out?"

"Sure."

"Why not?"

"Kay kay!"

"Totally!"

"Nah, I'm gonna help the Mechanist with the water ring." said Toshiro.

"If it gets done before we go, would it be okay if we kept it?" asked Sanosuke, "It sounds like it could be pretty useful for us."

"Of course, Sanosuke." said the Mechanist.

"It'd be an honor to help the Avatar in any way that we can." said Jenni. "In fact, there are some airbending scrolls here in the temple. You can have those too. They can teach you about the history of airbending and can teach you some cool airbending moves."

"That would be great." said Haruki, "If I can't learn from a real airbending master, it would be great to learn some moves from some ancient scrolls."

A messenger hawk landed on Elvira's outstretched arm. She took the scroll from its holder and opened it to read it. Her eyes widened for a second and a smile formed on her lips. Cari and her other soldiers sat not too far away eating dinner. With the hawk still on her arm and the scroll in her other hand, she walked to her soldiers.

"Get to bed early tonight, men." she ordered, "Tomorrow at dawn we set off for the Northern Air Temple."

* * *

I'm sorry that this chapter is short. I'm using a different computer and the one with all the stuff I was planning on putting in the story is at home


	10. Attack of the Northern Air Temple

disclaimer: I don't own ATLA

* * *

The kids slept in two separate rooms at the temple; one for the girls and one for the boys.

Jin tossed and turned in her sleeping bag. She was having a nightmare.

_Jin Jin! _

"No." Jin muttered in her sleep. "Leave him alone."

A hand grabbed the princess' shoulder and started to shake her.

"Jin."

Jin didn't wake up. She continued muttering. "Please...no."

"Jin!"

Jin woke with a start at hearing Kya shout her name. She blearily looked around. Aura and Xiu were awake. At first she thought she might have talked loudly in her sleep and woke them up but when she saw them looking alert and scared. Aura was at the window looking down while Xiu was putting her knife in her boot. The sky was slightly purple meaning that it was very early in the morning. Jin was then aware of what sounded like a fight going on. She could hear screaming, running, and explosions. She quickly got up and joined Aura at the window. To her horror she saw Chikara Army soldiers attacking the people of the Northern Air Temple. The people living in the temple could hardly defend themselves from the soldiers because the attack was unexpected. All they could do was run from the soldiers and try to escape. A lot of the people, Jenni and Teo included, were in the sky on their gliders and dropping large rocks or what looked like stink bombs on the invading soldiers. Jin was confused as to why the Chikara Army would attack the temple when it hit her.

"How did they find us?" she asked her friends.

"I don't know." said Kya. She was running around the room grabbing their things and putting them in their bags. "But we have to get out of here."

"We can't just leave them!" Xiu said angrily

"They're after us. If we leave they'll leave the temple alone."

"Kya's right." said Aura. "It's the only way to save these people."

Jin and Xiu knew that that was true and reluctantly and quickly started packing.

"I'm going to get the guys." said Kya, "Be ready in two minutes."

Which was more than they needed to finish getting ready to leave. Jin hid her mother's knives in her sleeves and put on the scabbard holding her father's dual dao swords.

_Just in case._ she thought

When they were ready to leave they ran into the hallway to get to the boy's room. When they got there Kya was arguing with Haruki.

"I refuse to run away like a coward!" Haruki yelled

"Haruki be reasonable-" But Haruki opened his father's glider and jumped out the window. "Haruki!"

The kids all ran to the window and watched him swooping down to the ground and began fighting soldiers off with his airbender. Kya growled with frustration.

"Come on." she told the others impatiently. She and lead them into the hallway and down the strairs. "I swear his stubborness is going to kill him one of these days!"

The kids ran outside to look for Haruki and use this chance to take down as many soldiers as they could. Kya went to the bison stables to get Appa but not before telling the others that when they find Haruki run as fast as they can away from the temple.

The attack felt like great practice for Sanosuke to use his earthbending. He used the earthbending techniques Rikiya taught him and took down more soldiers than he would have with waterbending. Rikiya used earthbending and metalbending against the soldiers, either sinking the soldiers into the ground, throwing them off the mountain, or using the metal of their tanks to pin them to the ground. Jin combined her firebending with her knife throwing and sword fighting. Xiu and Aura used chi blocking on the soldiers and Xiu every now and then slashed at a soldier. Toshiro fought Water Tribe and Kyoshi style even though he didn't have any fans but he was able to take them down just the same.

After several minutes of fighting Xiu finally found Haruki. He was using his airbending and was fighting Water Tribe style. Xiu waited for him to take down the soldier he was fighting before doing what she knew she had to do.

"Sorry Haruki." she said as she snuck up behind him and chi blocked him so that he wouldn't move.

Xiu draped his limp arm over her shoulders, grabbed his staff, and dragged him away from the soldiers. Jin saw them, shot fireballs into the air to signal the others, and ran after Xiu and Haruki.

"What happened to him?" Jin asked Xiu

"She blocked my chi!" said Haruki angrily

_Nice one _Jin mouthed to Xiu and the young acrobat smiled.

Sanosuke, Rikiya, Aura, and Toshiro then met up with them and the seven of them ran down the slope of the mountain.

"Where's Kya?" Jin asked the others.

"She's probably waiting for us at the bottom." Rikiya answered.

Xiu started getting tired of dragging Haruki so Sanosuke and Rikiya took him.

"You do realize you could have gotten us all killed right?" Sanosuke asked Haruki

"Not now Sanosuke." said Jin, "Let's just focus on find Kya and then we'll talk."

The team kept running. They didn't want to stop in case there were any soldiers behind them and they were too full of adrenaline from all the fighting. Before long they met up with Kya, Appa, and Momo. She helped Rikiya put the still paralyzed Haruki into Appa's saddle while the others climbed on.

"Yip yip!" said Kya, snapping the reins and Appa jumped into the air. As they made their escape Kya had Appa fly around the temple before getting away.

"So that the Chikara Army knows we're not there anymore." she answered their unasked question. The kids all looked back at the temple sadly as they flew off. They were overridden with guilt from what they had brought the place. They prayed to the spirits known and unknown that nobody was seriously hurt or worse.

The soldiers fell back from the temple when they saw the bison flying off. Elvira growled in frustration that the Avatar had escaped her again. Cari approached her with the spy.

"Say goodbye to your family." she told the spy, "You're coming with us."

Shou smirked at this.

"I've said my goodbyes long ago."


	11. Author's Note

To all of my fans let me just say I am so very sorry I haven't updated all year. At first I hadn't updated because I was busy with all the school work I had to do and making sure I graduated but because of that I had forgotten this story altogether. And before any of you jump to conclusions, no I am not going to leave this story. But after rereading this story I have been thinking about rewriting the story because I don't think what I have right now is as good as it could be if it's redone. I'll work on the first few chapters of Book 1 again and put them up.

Again, I am very sorry for the lack of updating and I hope you could all find it in your hearts to forgive me


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